Power Heroes: Linemen endure sleepless nights restoring light after Beryl

When 40-year-old Andree Robinson was put on standby during the passage of Category 4 Hurricane Beryl a month ago, he was calm and prepared.

With over a decade of experience, the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) lineman was ready to spring into action at a moment's notice, undeterred by the potential challenges. Still, Robinson, who hails from St Thomas, told THE STAR that nothing could have fully prepare him for the sleepless nights and magnitude of work he and his team would undertake.

"When I saw the damage, emotionally it was a bit heart-rending because we don't want to see people being displaced in any form at all. So our reaction to that was 'How fast can we get the customer back on the grid?'" Robinson said.

He said that while work crews wanted to ensure all customers got their power back quickly, it just wasn't possible.

"We had a lot of challenges and it was hard to get to some areas, with landslides or where river wash weh the road," Robinson said. On one occasion, during heavy rainfall, he and his team had to haul heavy equipment across a footbridge because there was no road access to the community using the truck.

While the JPS has restored power to more than 95 per cent of its customers, countless persons in Manchester and St Elizabeth have been without electricity since the passage of the storm. The light and power company has been given a deadline of August 12 to restore power to all of its customers, but it appears the target date will be missed.

The JPS has brought 27 linemen into the island to help restore power to all Jamaicans. Local lineman Robinson told THE STAR that the enormity of the task should not be underestimated. He said that members of his team work an average 12 hours each day trying to complete restoration.

"Every lineman sacrifice the time we spend at home and with we family to be out there night and day, sleepless nights to get back up customers as quickly as possible," Robinson said.

He told THE STAR that it was disheartening to see and hear about how some displeased customers treated some of his co-workers who are only trying to do their jobs. But there are positives.

"The best part of it was to see the joy when we restored their [residents'] power and they were back to normality. We had people beating pot covers like a Olympics gold medal them win," Robinson said.

"The people really appreciate the work that we did. Yea there were one and two naysayers, but the larger amount of people appreciated the hard work that we would have put in. Some even offered to help in whatever way they could, some offered us water and so on."

Like Robinson, 49-year-old Denton Williams, a lineman for 18 years, had to leave his family to aid in the restoration following Hurricane Beryl's wrath. Williams said that he had no bad experiences and would do it all over again without hesitation.

"The people were really enthusiastic to see us, overwhelmed with joy and most a dem them treat we good," Williams said, while admitting that there were challenges.

"The hardest part to me was getting to some communities because we had to clear the roads to get the vehicle dem into the community and it was hard to get up some a the terrain dem, because yuh know seh Portland a mostly hill. So it was really bad. Yuh know landslide, some a di road dem break weh. Suh we afi watch out fi dem deh," Williams explained.

However, he opined that it was all worth it, and said the experience has produced good memories, including on particular community.

"When the whole place get back light, the roaring suh loud mi a wonder if something grounds out inna the community and fire a lick. But some residents was there and them a seh no a happy them happy. But that night a di first mi hear people scream suh loud," Williams cheerfully explained.